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ive done a search on this and nothing has satisfied my question. i would like to start using a sythetic oil. we all know are car should use a 5W20. amsoil makes a 5w20, mobil1 does not. (they make 5w30 and recommend it as well as 10w30 and 0w30 for our cars!. ive got a messed up tranny right now.....it drives.... i DO tend to drive the car probably harder than i should, but i have been driving like grandma a lot. what do you think is a good choice. here are my refernces.
www.mobil1.com (what oil do i use in my car thread)
www.amsoil.com

2001 honda civic dx coupe 5sp

 
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i use it, dont know what kind though, oil express puts it in. its expensive and lasts longer, wouldnt recommend for use with turbo though

 
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I currently do not use synthetic, but I have heard mixed opinions on synthetics. From what I have gathered, if you are going to use synthetic oil do it fairly early in the cars lifetime and don't change back. There is a guy I worked with who used synthetic oil on his 99 Civic that had just over 100k miles on it and as soon as he put in synthetic his car started leaking oil. From what I have heard, synthetic oil is so much thinner and does a better job in lubricating, but on the other hand, since it does such a good job if getting in the "hard to reach" places inside your egnine it basically looks for a place to leak out. Basically with regular oil there are small little places on seals that don't recieve oil and begin to develop leaks. But since these places don't recieve oil they don't leak oil. But once you put in synthetic oil it will find the small crevices and begin to leak. Again, I have never used synthetics so take this information for what it is.

-Kevin

 
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i've been using 5W30 Mobil One on my car. So far, so good[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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I have been using Mobil 1 5W30 synthetic for the past half year, changed over for my third oil change at approximately 15,000 km. The car runs great and I have had no problems with it. I find it smoothes out idle after a cold start quicker than normal oil and the car runs smooth despite the thicker oil.

I have read somewhere else that Amsoil's 5W20 is on the thicker side for a 5W20, while Mobil 1's 5W30 is on the thinner side for a 5W30, so that the difference between them is smaller than it seems.

 
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i changed over fairly late. i switched at about 50000 miles. I changed to 10w-30 synthetic and it seems to idle better than before and supposedly synthetic is better for your engine.

 
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i switched to syntheics about 3 oil changes ago(11k miles) and haven't looked back since, the last 2 changes were castrol full synthetics, but the last oil change i got, i used amsoil 10w30. i was reading a little amsoil catalog and they said moble syntheic isn't full syntheic, while amsoil is. and it seems cheaper for me, it cost 48 dollars to get castrol full-syntheic done at the honda dealer, but only 35 dollars at the local performance shop with amsoil full-syntheic

 
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Last oil change I put in Mobil 1 full dynthetic 5W30 and so far .. it's running really well. No complaints!!

 
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what makes the oil thinner or thicker is viscosity the oil being synthatic or not doesnt make a defrence



please check it out
I'm not trying to offend anyone but there is all kinds of bull going around[IMG]i/expressions/moon.gif[/IMG] myths about synthetics
I cant get the link to work. Look at FAQ's under why senthytics

 
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I use Royal Purple 5W20 and Royal Purple Syncromax Gear Oil. From my experience they are the best syn out there.

 
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Why are some of you guys using 5w-30 or 10w-30???

Our manuals say to use 5w-20... and if not available, use
5w-30 but only temporarily.

I'm changing my oil soon and want to go with synthetic.
Someone posted that using 5w-20 will kill our engines in
the long run, and that Honda only recommends it because
they can then claim better gas mileage. The logic makes
no sense though... why would Honda do that just so they
can claim less than 1 MPG better? Should I really go
with the 5w-30? I drive 60 miles at 3000 RPM every
day (all highway).

[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG]

 
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Use the 5W20 like the manual says.

 
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I think it has to do with the mileage on your engine. I was talking to a guy at a oil shop and he recommended 10w-30 since my car had so many miles on it(50,000). Not 100% sure, but guessing he knows more than I do.

 
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I'm switching to synthetic this weekend. Not sure which one yet (Either Mobil 1, Castrol Syntec, or Valvoline Synpower), still have to get some more opinions on what people I know are using. I'm gonna use 5W-30. I'll take 1 less MPG for increased engine life. Give or take 9300 on the car when the switch happens.

 
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synthetic is good, but not necessary. if you change your oil regularly (3-5k miles) you don't have much to worry about. just be diligent in changing your oil.

the synthetics do flow a little better, and it will idle a little smoother. but the way that i see it, if you needed synthetic oil (motor, or transmission) then honda would have made it that way. they have spent millions on r&d, and if they thought that it would improve the life of the car, they would atleast suggest it.

 
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You sound like my dad. Anyway, I personally use sythetic because my car runs cooler, smoother, and better. That's enough for me to keep the synthetic in. I use AMSOil, it's the best synthetic I have come across.

 
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I don't know why people think that thicker means better. Thicker oil isn't better. Our cars have very low tolerences and this necessitates the use of a thinner oil.

Yep, honda is going to run a super-thin oil to improve their overall mpg rating at the expense of their engines wearing out earlier than normal. LOL LOL

They don't need an extra mpg to meet federal regulations. You know how honda has all those gas guzzlers to make up for.

As for the leaking because it's thinner- wtf? a 5w-30 syn has the same viscosity as a 5w-30 conventional.

 
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i use amsoil 5w-20 synthetic. anyone thats thinking about switching to synthetic get it. you won't be disappointed

 
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I use mobil 1 5w-30 in my car and it works great. I would recommend that you change to synthetic oil early. The thing about what type of oil is a tough question to answer. What I recommend you do is just start out with the amsoil and see how that performs in your engine and then after another 5,000miles, I would try the mobil 1 synthetic and compare them. Both are very good brands so neither one will do anything to your engine that the other wouldn't. Your engine just might run smoother on one or the other. Hope this helps!

 
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Hey whats up ppls...I know it says to use 5-20 in the owners manual but it isn't exactly mandatory. My friend (ASEcertified)said to use a synthetic on my car, it will run smoother and get max lubricant. I've been using Mobile 1tri-synthetic for the past year and the car has always been running good. Hope this tip helps.